Which car impressed you most this season?

[wesley123]

We recently have this poll on the website with a few options. I voted the Lotus E20. But well, that isnt the point. I found it a great possible discussion, since well there are a lot of different reasons and I feel like the Sauber is just as great of a choice as the Lotus.

I added the same poll as there is on the home page, but you can vote for more, as I feel that one option is too restrictive.

Red Bull RB8;

The team struggled a lot at the start of the season, mainly because they couldnt get the exhaust ramp+duct working. The team then developped the car really well and at Valencia came with a working form of the duct+ramp solution. In the second half of the season the RB8 was just like it's previous cars, dominant.

McLaren MP4-27;

At the start of the season they had by far the quickest car of the field, it lacked a bit of development but stayed one of the quickest over the course of the season. The team did not show it's cars potential and lost points more than once.

Ferrari F2012;

In winter testing struggled a lot. They were lucky in the opening races, but worked hard to mask the car its problems. In My opinion it was really good to see the evolutions they bought in the center of the car, and they gained ground pretty well. In the second half of the season the car didnt improve as much anymore.

Lotus E20;

A really flexible car, and a car that impressed everyone. It was really consistent and quite quick, not far behind the top teams. It's one win was well deserved.

Mercedes W03;

It's opening races were great. After that it just showed, once again, how the team cannot develop a car, and they felt back really quick and stayed there.

Sauber C31;

Maybe one of the best cars aerodynamicly, but the young driver pair did not always show it's potential, as did the team with setup/understanding the tires. Therefore it wasnt always as consistent.

Others;

Force India VJM-05;

A car that looked promising in winter testing, but it seems that the team never was able to unlock it's full potential.


As for the rest, which of the cars impressed you, and more importantly, why?

[astracrazy]

for me its the mclaren, very quick car. Also they brought the exhaust exit which most teams have followed so +1 to them.

I guess you have to give it to Newey and his tunnels as well. I wonder if it will be copied next year

[stefan_]

Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull are the usual suspects, so I don't count them in this top.

E20 - the dark horse of the season by far. C31 was like a grey horse, but still good - impressive glimpses of performance and consistency.

[RB7ate9]

I'm going to go with the Lotus E20. Of all the cars out of the top 3 (Ferrari, Mcl, RB), it was the biggest switch from the previous car (Forward Exhausts) to the 2012 car (blowing rear/beam wing). Considering that they didn't use the coanada-style (and only used a basic or moderate version for end of the season), or any of the assorted tricks and developments that the other teams did, they still got loads of points and show speed. This illustrates a very solid foundation for the car.

It's a real shame that Grosjean had so many issues this year, as him and Kimi could've really taken the battle to the podium together with the E20. While some of the other teams that won this year (Williams, Mercedes) and got placed on the podium (Sauber) were flattered by the chaos of the start of the season or mid-field tire advantages, the Lotus chassis was a contender through most conditions throughout the season.

Also, the most telling indicator for me of an impressive car is that they had the most distinctive front wing of the season and Mclaren decided to examine that solution. While everyone was clamoring for exhaust solutions for the year, Mclaren took a gamble on the Lotus-Style design on a component that most every team has a solid design philosophy.

[Spacepace]

How about the Williams. It was sorta similar to that of the E20 in that they had a big improvement over last year; probably more then any other car to be honest.

[wesley123]

Good thing Spacepace! The Williams was pretty good too, but was pretty inconsistent. The one race it was on the front rows, the next it was in the midfield. But it indeed was a huge improvement over last years car

[Holm86]

The Williams was definitely let down by poor drivers. Thats my opinion.

The McLaren impressed me by being the only top team car without the ugly broken nose. But they were still the fastest car in the start of the season and the end. Though it was too unreliable and cost both Lewis and Jenson alot of points this season.

Its a hard question which one impressed me the most. But im gonna say the Lotus. Fast, Reliable and diverse.

[ESPImperium]

Sauber C31 was the best for me, it was reliable and was a good car. The team lack budget, but if rumors are to be belived, a deal is just about to be signed between Sauber and Samsung for €110m over 5 years (€30m for the first season and €20m their after) Sergio and Kamui both performed to the chassis limits perfectly, however the last 5 GP were almost a total loss for the pair in my opinion.

The Lotus E20 was next in the list, however they lacked budget as well and that final 5% of engineering that would take Kimi into a propper WDC posistion, also Grosjean underperformed the chassis as well. However the budget i think will be sorted for 2013 with Burn and one or two other smaller investments.

The last chassis in my run down that with a little more budget and engineering would have been better is the Marussia, the car wasnt a great one at the start of the year, lack of testing hurt them, but they soon got a handle on the car and with the 5 small updates and the 2 intermediate ones and the large one at Silverstone all coming from the McLaren tunnel the car showed promise. However the lack of KERS hurt them and ultimatly was their downfall. The team need a bit more budget and technichal know how as well. They will be a threat next year as Pat Symonds will a major asset for the team once his ban is lifted.

[munudeges]

The Lotus, no question. For me this team are second only to Red Bull in terms of technical creativity.

Two things let them down this season. Not getting their exhaust system on the car far earlier and developing it and wasting too much time on a new drag reduction system that wouldn't have given them a large chunk of lap time and is something they could have developed later as a nice-to-have. Had they thought through the order in which they did those two things then they could have had race wins far earlier and had a massive chance at the championship. That's where Red Bull are still ahead - they get the order in which to develop various aspects of a car right more often than not.

Once they build themselves back up again, get more sponsorship and more money and resources to do more they're going to be very dangerous.

[Sevach]

Tough the Mp4-27 was the fastest overall but the reliability failed at crucial times.

With the RB8 for the first time in a while we saw Red Bull in catchup mode, and they did a great job developing the car, just when you consider them done. they come up with huge improvements.

Ferrari F2012 was full of ups and downs, first i was shocked at how bad it was, then it was amazing how quickly they caught up, and after this amazing improvement the team just couldn't find anything...

Lotus was a huge surprise, i honestly didn't expect the team to be anywhere near this good.

Sauber was a good dark horse, harder Pirellis at the end of the season kinda killed it.

The Williams was a very fast car that deserved better results too.

[McMrocks]

The Williams was a very fast car that deserved better results too.

The Williams was a one-hit-wonder. With a perfect setup it was able to win races (if the other teams failed to find the perfect setup) But as soon as the teams understood the tyres, the Williams was much behind the top teams. Sure you can't win a race with a car which is 5sec slower than the rest but the Williams wasn't faster than the FI , Sauber, Mercedes, and so on. The car was better than the 2011 car. I don't want to make the Williams worse than he is.

But I agree to you, the car has deserved better results

[raymondu999]

It was podium contending in Valencia, Sngapore and Abu Dhabi, mind you. It was by no means a one-hit wonder.

[Cylinder]

Red Bull, that car was a monster down the season finale, what a great job from Newey and the team.

[Nando]

the Mclaren, i was impressed by how much can fail on a car during a season and so regularly.

[wesley123]

The Williams indeed wasnt a one hit wonder. It was a really good points contender and was on the front row a few times, or on the second row. It was there quite often. The drivers however, they did not fully show the car it's potential.

Red Bull, that car was a monster down the season finale, what a great job from Newey and the team.

That was rather expected, the surprise was more that they struggled and weren't quick out of the box.